ONE TEAM

ONE GOAL

It sits like a gleaming city surrounded by a sea of green. Fibria’s Três Lagoas pulp mill is now one of the world’s largest pulp making facilities. With the new Horizonte 2 line starting up at the mill in August last year, the company is on target to produce over 7.25 million tonnes a year of top-quality, prime eucalyptus pulp.

Something extraordinary has taken place at Fibria’s Três Lagoas pulp mill in Brazil over the last three years. Two groups of immensely skilled people from Fibria and ANDRITZ were brought together as one team, and with one goal: to design, create, and build Horizonte 2, the world’s largest pulp line, using only the very best-in-class, supersized technology.

The line started up in August 2017, and is already breaking records for a single line pulp mill. The mill at Três Lagoas is now set to produce over 3.25 million tonnes of pulp a year, making it one of the world’s largest pulp production sites.

“This was the first time that Fibria had ever engaged a sole supplier to carry out any of its projects,” says Júlio César Rodrigues da Cunha, Fibria’s Project and Engineering Director, “and we must admit there were a cou-ple of minor worries to begin with in using just the one supplier, especially on a project of this scale. But it soon became clear there was no need for concern as ANDRITZ gave us abso-lute transparency on everything relating to the islands and lines they were supplying. This spirit of cooperation continued throughout the proj- ect and was particularly effective when we encountered any challenges.”

30 SPECTRUM No. 37 / 1-2018 31No. 37 / 1-2018 Fibria

Joel Starepravo, Project Director for ANDRITZ, says, “This was the biggest pulp project in the company’s history, and I have to admit for me it was the biggest challenge I have had in my entire life. From ‘day zero’, we wanted this project to be the absolute bench-mark, and we were amazed at the full cooperation we were given, even main board members of Fibria and ANDRITZ

got involved. The motto of the project One Team, One Goal was absolutely evident from the top down and from start to finish of the project.”

ANDRITZ teamed up with Fibria to build Horizonte 2 Project – the world's largest pulp mill with a single fiberline. The ANDRITZ scope in this full turnkey project included everything from the woodyard to the drying machines and the whole recovery island.

THE TRÊS LAGOAS MILLThe mill itself is just outside the city of Três Lagoas located in Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state, which is around the size of Germany in area. Viewed from the air, the land around the city is mostly flat and predominantly dedicated to the growth of eucalyptus, giving the impres-sion that it is completely surrounded by lush, well-manicured lawns.

Fibria started the first line in Três Lagoas, Horizonte 1, in 2009, now producing around 1.3 million tonnes of pulp per year, and such

was the success of the first line that it was decided to immediately begin planting eucalyptus in readiness for a second line.

“We have several different clones of eucalyptus that we manage ourselves in Fibria,” says da Cunha, “and we are harvesting our trees in around six years, which is very fast.”

Da Cunha adds that across the whole of Fibria, the nurseries are planting six seed-lings per second to satisfy the need of eucalyptus at its mills.

The pulp itself is transported from the mill to Porto Santos, some 1,250 kilometers away on the Atlantic coast, first by truck to a hub located 160 kilometers away and then by rail to the coast for export.

THE PROJECT The run-up to the order being placed for Horizonte 2 was a hectic period, as is usual in the awarding of such huge engi-

neering and technology contracts. Da Cunha comments, “During the negotia-tion period, we had all the suppliers stay-ing in hotels so that we could discuss all

the demands of the project, and had decided that all the contracts for this project would be awarded in that par-ticular week. There were a lot of people here from all over the world, and it was an intensive period.

“Originally we were negotiating a 26-month implementation plan for the project with talks going on day and

night. At the beginning of day three, the ANDRITZ negotiating team came in with a big surprise; they announced that ANDRITZ would complete the project in

25 months, and, crucially, it would also increase the capacity of the line by 200,000 tonnes a year – as long as it was awarded the full turnkey project.

“It was an offer we could not refuse,” says da Cunha.

The order for the supply of Horizonte 2 was placed in July 2015 with the scope of sup-

ply including everything from the wood-yard to the drying machines, and crucially for all involved in the project, it would be the largest single line in the world, with

MARCELO CASTELLI CEO, Fibria

“With this project we have the best technology available, installed in the largest single pulp line in the world.”

JÚLIO CÉSAR RODRIGUES DA CUNHAProject and Engineering Director, Corporate EngineeringFibria

“We had the mill delivered on time, in budget and with an excellent ramp-up.”

33SPECTRUM No. 37 / 1-201832 No. 37 / 1-2018 Fibria

an initial planned capacity of 1.95 million tonnes. Start-up was to be in 25 months from the signing of the contract.

The complete scope of supply included: the wood processing plant, hardwood fiberline, two pulp drying lines, evapora-tion plant and recovery boiler, white liquor plant with single-line recausticizing plant and two lime kilns, chloride and potas-sium removal system, and a liquid metha-nol plant for the production of biofuel.

REAL TEAM SPIRITAs the project kicked off, the One Team, One Goal phi-losophy immediately began to pay off, and became a vital added ingredient, par-ticularly when challenges presented themselves. The main problem that occurred was a delay of the recov-ery boiler, potentially hold-ing up the project by six weeks. There was also some damage to a lamella pack-age in one of the evapora-

tors when a cable snapped during installation, neces-sitating some emergency engineering. Another added problem was the deliv-ery delay of one of the four huge DD-Washers, due to a road being washed away in a rain storm.

Says da Cunha, “When any major chal-lenges came up during the project, we immediately created a War Room. This, of course, was not a place where we all came to fight; this was where project directors and team leaders from both companies came together to collabo-rate and concentrate intensively on any problems at hand, to see where we could reduce the hold-ups and find other areas where we could speed things along. The meetings included all senior Fibria and

ANDRITZ people instrumental to the proj-ect on the ground, as well as senior man-agement from both companies.

“This intensive problem-solving activ-ity really worked well; we brought down what looked like a six-week delay on the recovery boiler to just seven days at first oil fire. We also brought in new lamellas to the site in record time, and even orga-nized the building of a new road to get the DD-Washers here on time. This prob-lem solving was all down to our collective collaboration at those meetings.”

Starepravo adds, “This was the great thing about being open and transpar-ent from the very beginning. We shared any problems we had with Fibria as they happened, then the senior manage-ment and all the key players jumped into action; we created an hourly and daily strategy, and together we managed to solve any problems and still get an early start-up.”

“The team work was amazing during this project,” says Jean Willian de Moraes, Project and Engineering Manager, Cor-porate Engineering, Fibria. “And this shared goal has been a critical factor for the success of the project. At the meetings, far from being a lot of worry and stress, there was an absolute sense that we were all in this together, right from the senior management of both companies across the whole project to

the people on the ground. Everybody was pulling together on this project, like a family would.”

One of the key areas One Team, One Goal philosophy succeeded was in the implementation of the ANDRITZ “Safety First” program, which demands strict con-trol over all operatives and contractors at the site. The program involves inten-sive regular training, security briefings, and compulsory site induction training. Da Cunha says, “Safety for us at Fibria and for ANDRITZ during the project was

the number one attention point. It was made absolutely clear to everybody on site right from the start that everything must be done only in the very safest way possible. We had a number of dedicated safety people on site during the proj-ect, and the result was that we created a record benchmark in safety that was even better than the benchmarks when running a stable operation.”

A PULP MILL – SUPERSIZED One of the major obstacles the project leaders had to overcome was the sheer

size of some of the equipment involved – after all, this is the largest pulp mill with a single fiberline in the world; it has to have the equipment to go along with it.

The scope of supply for Horizonte 2 at Três Lagoas included the largest DD- Washers ever supplied and the largest digester in the world.

Starepravo says, “We had to think of the logistical challenges way in advance, especially when it came to getting equipment to the mill from the port – some 2,600 kilometers away – having to

deal with some of the poor infrastruc-ture that Brazil has in certain regions. The DD-Washers, in particular, were demand-ing to bring to the mill from the port because of the sheer diameter of them. There was only one road we could use.

“We managed to get three of the DD-Washers to the mill perfectly and then there was a sudden deluge of rain and the only road was washed away!”

Again, the One Team, One Goal mission and spirit was put into place, with Fibria sending one of its own experienced road building teams to fix the road and make sure that the DD-Washer could arrive on time at the mill.

JOEL B. STAREPRAVO Project DirectorANDRITZ

“The motto of the project One Team, One Goal was absolutely evident from the top down and from start to finish of the project.”

A From left to right: Rogerio Pachecho, Fiberline Site Manager, ANDRITZ; Newton Kozak, Fiberline Project Manager, ANDRITZ; Joel B. Starepravo, Project Director, ANDRITZ; Alexandre Figueiredo, Commissioning and Start-up Manager, Fibria

B This ANDRITZ HERB Recovery Boiler is the largest in Latin America and the second largest in the world.

The pulp drying plant is designed for a specific plant capacity of more than 390 tonnes per day and meter of working width, which has been very well-proven for ANDRITZ pulp drying plants all over the world.

Alexandre Figueiredo, Commissioning and Start-up Manager, Fibria

B

A

35No. 37 / 1-2018 Fibria

Marcelo Castelli, CEO of Fibria, talked to SPECTRUM at Fibria’s headquar-ters in São Paulo about the unprec-edented growth of the company, the strategy it implements, and the suc-cess of Horizonte 2.

“Historically, our growth has always been based on the consistent fun-damentals of operating in a global commodity market; to always use the best in class technology and to be focused fully on efficiency, safety, and reliability,” says Castelli. “Our mills being located where they are in South America mean we are in the perfect region to apply this strategy and to grow and pro-duce high quality pulp – and, of course, we are also able to deliver our products to every point around the world.

MARCELO CASTELLI: “A SEAMLESS OPERATION”

key reasons for this was the commission-ing phase, which went exactly according to plan. We faced no big issues, problems, or surprises related to the start-up.

“In the commissioning of the fiberline, we made all the digester tests one month before the schedule and, despite the DD-Washers being the biggest ever sup-plied, again there were no surprises in the commissioning or the start-up.”

One new added resource of exper-tise utilized with some success dur-ing the commissioning and start-up of Horizonte 2 was the ANDRITZ Metris Cus-tomer Support Center, located in Kotka, Finland. This enabled experts to col-laborate closely and in real time with the commissioning and start-up teams

on the ground at the Fibria site. Using video wall technology, along with the very latest in modern communications systems, data gathering, and diagnos-tic tools, dedicated experts at the cen-ter provided support for commissioning and process tuning at the site. The Cus-tomer Support Center can also be uti-lized during production ramp-up, aiding stable production, as well as being a vital resource for the troubleshooting of technical and process issues.

Roberto Furtado, Overall Commissioning and Start-up Manager, ANDRITZ, says, “There are several factors that can be put down to the successful start-up of Horizonte 2. First of all was the integra-tion with Fibria; it was so important for us to have a customer that we could really

collaborate with on a deeper level, particu-larly when there were occasional challenges. We really did have the commitment of the whole team across the mill.

“The occasional problems we had could easily have resulted in delay, but because of the dedication of the teams and the drive to make this project a success, we always managed to recover any time lost. In the fiberline, from our point of view the commis-sioning went perfectly, again down to good planning and team work, and the drying line also started up without a hitch.”

All in all it seems that Fibria and ANDRITZ are delighted with the results achieved with the Horizonte 2 project, proving that the One Team, One Goal philosophy really does work when it is put into place with dedication and

Joel Starepravojoel.starepravo@andritz.com

CONTACT

made an agreement very appealing. We have also had a number of successful proj-ects completed by ANDRITZ at our other mills, so there was already a positive history.”

It seems those consistent fundamentals Cas-telli talks about were closely adhered to dur-ing the latest project at Horizonte 2 in Três Lagoas. Since the line started up, it has bro-ken all sorts of records, including production and cost per tonne, and it has even created a new benchmark when it comes to safety in delivering a project of this scale.

And how did the Horizonte 2 project go from Castelli’s standpoint? “From the out-set it was very important to us that the right atmosphere and attitude was created for this project. At Fibria we like to work as one seamless organization, including when work-ing with partners. When we awarded the contract to ANDRITZ, we created the motto:

One Team, One Goal – as these words expressed our sentiments exactly. This motto was adopted enthusiastically and success-fully by all the teams of people from both ANDRITZ and Fibria throughout the project.”

It certainly seems as if the One Team, One Goal motto has hit the mark when it comes to combined success - latest reports from the mill suggest that Horizonte 2 is well ahead of the start-up curve and is likely to go over the design capacity of 1.95 million tonnes. Castelli con-cludes, “We are delighted with the Horizonte 2 performance so far; this result will further our position in the market and will give us even more production capacity than first expected.

“With this project we have the best technol-ogy available, installed in the largest single pulp line in the world, and we are aiming to create the best reference in the world in terms of dollars per tonne inside the fence."

integrity from all the players in the team. Mauri-cio Miranda Pereira, General Mill Manager, Três Lagoas, Fibria, concludes, “It was very clear to us as this project progressed that ANDRITZ has incredibly knowledgeable people in all the pro-cess areas, and despite one or two little prob-lems at the beginning, there was fantastic transparency and sharing all the way through-out the erection, construction, commissioning, and start-up phases.

“Even now we have the ANDRITZ board and senior management asking for figures and looking for performance details; it is as if the One Team, One Goal continues on into the future.”

“Our growth strategy is driven by our optimism for the future demand of pulp – with the world population growing to 7 billion, a burgeoning middle class in emerging regions, and a remarkably sus-tainable product, we believe there is an excellent long-term future for our indus-try. And when it comes to expansion and investment, we always aim to bring in the right partners and, most importantly, get things right the first time.”

Castelli comments on the appointment of ANDRITZ as the sole supplier to the Horizonte 2 project, “Putting all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, is not some-

thing we do frequently when investing in large projects but dur-ing negotiations ANDRITZ came up with an excellent offer in terms of extra capacity and a shorter delivery schedule that

In terms of largest and highest capacity equipment ever, the list at Horizonte 2 is impressive: • World’s biggest horizontally fed

HHQ-Chippers (400 m3 solid-under-bark per hour)

• Highest single fiberline capacity (6,120 adt/d)

• Largest black liquor evaporation plant in the western hemisphere (evaporation rate 1,950 t/h)

• Largest recovery boiler in Latin America - second largest in the world

• Most energy efficient and largest white liquor plant in the world (18,900 m3/d white liquor production)

COMMISSIONING AND START-UP – NO SURPRISES When it came to commissioning and start-up, the well-planned execution of the project came to the fore as Fibria reports that there were “no surprises” at all in the commissioning and start-up phases, with everything going according to plan.

Alexandre Figueiredo, Commissioning and Start-up Manager, Fibria, says, “We managed to start up the mill three weeks before the original schedule; one of the

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The new hardwood fiberline ensures low operating costs, low emissions, extremely high washing efficiency, and excellent fiber quality. The capacity (6,120 adt/d) is the highest in the world for a single fiberline.

Mauricio Miranda Pereira, General Mill Manager, Três Lagoas, Fibria

SPECTRUM No. 37 / 1-201836 37

WOOD PROCESSINGA complete wood processing plant with four chipping lines, each consist-ing of the world’s biggest horizontally fed HHQ-Chippers with a capacity of 400 m3 solid-under-bark per hour. The scope also includes the chip screening station, chip storage with a round pile stacker-reclaimer, which also provides chips to the first pulp production line, and bark handling. The unique HHQ-Chipper contributes towards providing the high-est and most uniform chip quality, which significantly increases fiber yield both in woodyard and in fiberline operations.

EVAPORATION PLANTThe largest black liquor evaporation plant in the western hemisphere (evaporation rate 1,950 t/h), which concentrates black liquor to a dry solids content of 80% for efficient combustion in the HERB recovery boiler. The plant is equipped with the lat-est of ANDRITZ’s innovations in second-ary condensate quality enhancement for 100% reuse in other departments of the mill. Furthermore, the evaporation plant is integrated with the recovery boiler, which has an energy-efficient boiler feed water heating system.

FIBERLINEA hardwood fiberline comprising a Tur-boFeed chip feeding system, Lo-Solids continuous cooking, screen room and bleaching, and DD-Washers, which ensure low operating costs, low emis-sions, extremely high washing effi-ciency, and excellent fiber quality. The

capacity (6,120 adt/d) is the highest in the world for a single fiberline.

PULP DRYING Two energy-efficient pulp drying lines (working width of 8,004 mm and design capacity of 3,060 adt/d each) based on the high-capacity Twin Wire Former technology and airborne dryers. The approach system includes a full cascade screening plant and ensures homogeneous pulp feed to the subsequent process stage. The pulp dewa-tering machine comprises a dilution-controlled headbox, Twin Wire Former, and press section with combi-press and PrimePress X shoe press. The drying plant is designed for a specific production of more than 390 tonnes per meter and meter of working width, which has been well-proven for ANDRITZ pulp drying plants all over the world. The ANDRITZ airborne dryer is the most energy efficient of its kind.

The ANDRITZ Cutter/Layboy provides the pulp bales to be further processed in the high capacity baling lines, where the final pulp bales are produced.

RECOVERY BOILERThe largest recovery boiler in Latin America with a peak capacity of 8,250 tds/d. The ANDRITZ HERB recovery boiler is equipped with state-of-the-art combustion technology to minimize the emissions and maximize green energy production. It is capable of burning and destroying all the harmful non-con-densable gases and the methanol pro-duced in other process areas of the mill. The HERB recovery boiler supports and provides steam and power for the com-plete pulp mill and generates a large electricity surplus, which is to be distrib-uted through the national grid.

WHITE LIQUOR PLANTEnergy-efficient and largest white liquor plant in the world (18,900 m3/d white liquor production) meets the highest environmental standards and provides top performance and excellent availability under any process conditions. The white liquor plant consists of the single-line recausticizing plant and two lime kilns (840 t/d each), designed to burn oil, natural gas, and syngas.

GETTING TECHNICAL

ANDRITZ'S COMPLETE SCOPE OF SUPPLY TO FIBRIA’S HORIZONTE 2, TRÊS LAGOAS

In addition, ANDRITZ has delivered a chloride and potassium removal system to enhance the chemical recovery process and a liquid methanol plant for production of biofuel.

SPECTRUM No. 37 / 1-201838 39No. 37 / 1-2018 Fibria